Chuck vs Strahotski Part One
by SamanthaLisaWalkerfan101
Summary: A crazy story written by multiple authors/members of a a wonderful fansite dedicated to Yvonne Strahovski. The story is full of action, romance, drama, and comedy. The plot centers on a glitch with the Intersect and how Charah deals with it. Post-S2.
1. Prologue

_A/N: Okay, I did not write this story solely by myself. I had help from several amazing people from the awesome Yvonne Strahovski fansite, Strahotski(.com). It more or less started because a couple of us were bored and it just grew from there. I'm pretty happy with it. I hope they are too. I said I would post when we were finished so here we go. Please review! (:  
_

_Authors in order of contribution with their user names on Strahotski placed first (though it was more of a round robin type thing): _

**_Nannygirl/SarahLisaWalkerfan101_**

**_Kroblues (both sites)_**

**_ Chuck(.Sarah)(both sites)_**

**_Swedude (both sites)_**

**_Sevine (both sites)_**

**_BiLLi0 (Strahotski only)_**

**_Alexg (no longer a member)/Pike16_**

**_SarahFan/(unknown)_**

**_Sarah-Fan/disabrina_**

**_Wepdiggy (both sites)_**

**_Adorable Yvonne/Zerectica_**

_We knew this fic as the Never Ending Story or the Strahotski Story (I hope the new title is okay with everyone), depending. Haha. You can go to the site and read the thread if you want. ;-)  
_

* * *

Chuck was sitting on his bed aimlessly playing with a magnet. There was nothing better to do. His normal standby to alleviate boredom would usually be to give Morgan a call, but Morgan was off with Anna, and whatever was going on there was something Chuck would very much prefer keeping away from his mind. Sarah. Well, he didn't know where Sarah was.

_She's probably off doing something interesting with someone interesting_**, **he thought grimly. _He or whoever she's with must be a very interesting person. She even forgot to tell me about where she was going or if it was personal. She's late for our fake date. She's never been late before. Maybe I should stalk her. I mean, I am her fake boyfriend. But can I really justify stalking her? It didn't end well last time and I hate it when she gets angry at me._

The magnet fell on his toe and Chuck grimaced in pain.

_Damn it,_ thought Chuck,_why do I have to keep thinking of her? She's made it perfectly clear what she wants. I'm just an asset, a mission, to her. She was going to leave with Bryce after the wedding anyway. It's my fault she's still stuck here in this ridiculous assignment._

In his anger, he hurled the magnet at the wall, unfortunately knocking the camera Casey had mounted behind said wall off its axis. Chuck winced slightly as he saw that. He had long learned the location of every camera in his room, and he had also learned that Casey was unnaturally protective of his electronic monitoring devices.

The Colonel who was currently the object of Chuck's slightly terrified musings was watching this as he tried to settle in for a relaxing episode of "Idiot Watch", and he was having a nice laugh to himself over Chuck's moping around until that little mishap.

_Oh, bad move, Bartowski. Now I get to try out one of my new toys..._

Casey took his taser out of his non-lethal weapons cupboard, which naturally was much smaller than his other, vastly more interesting, weapons cupboard. His serious armory was more of a walk-in-wardrobe. He walked out his front door and over to the Bartowski apartment, and as he was about to open the door, Ellie walked up behind him.

"Hi, John," she said as he turned around to greet or tase her whichever turned out to be the necessary reaction. "What are you doing here? And what's that thing in your hand?"

"Uh, just looking for Bart – Chuck," Casey said with a forced smile. "This is just a new, uh, Wii controller that the store got in today. I told Chuck I would bring it by after my shift."

"Okay, well, I can give it to him," Ellie suggested

"No, thanks. I can give it to him myself later. I just remembered I have something to do," Casey lied. He left Ellie's side and went directly to his apartment, shutting the door behind him and cursing himself for the temporary loss of his usual ability to think quickly. Damn that new perfume Ellie was wearing. It distracted him more usual when he was around her.

"That was weird," said Ellie as she turned to walk into the apartment.

Chuck went to the Morgan Door and began a careful watch for Casey. If the larger man approached him, Chuck was prepared to tuck and run. He watched cautiously as his handler stalked back to his apartment. He had been preparing to make a break for it because, even though he was _fairly_ sure Casey wouldn't kill him, it wasn't worth taking the chance when Casey got angry. When he deemed it safe to return to a confined area, he slipped back into his room.

_Okay, Bartowski, time for Plan B_, thought Casey evilly.

Suddenly, Chuck was interrupted in his Sarah-based moping session by a booming voice that erupted from his TV speakers. He was glad the NSA had seen fit to soundproof his room, because he had forgotten to turn the volume down after a late night Call of Duty session and he really didn't need Ellie finding out about the spy stuff in addition to Awesome.

"Bartowski! That was a very expensive camera you just broke! Be glad Walker threatened to put me out of action if I hurt you."

_So Sarah does care, _thought _Chuck. But why wouldn't she tell me where she was going tonight?_

As it happened, Chuck would get his chance to find out, as Sarah was staring tentatively through the Morgan Door at him.

Chuck was confused by Sarah's sudden appearance, but he was nonetheless happy to see her, as his 100-watt Chuck Bartowski smile showed. He quickly opened the window and Sarah slid into the room.

When Sarah was fully inside the room, Chuck asked, "Sarah, what are you doing here?"

"I just came to give you these," Sarah said, straightening out her shirt nervously and offering Chuck what looked like tickets.

"What are these?" Chuck asked, taking the four tickets from Sarah.

"Uh, tickets to Comic Con," Sarah said.

"How did you get these?" asked Chuck in surprise. "Comic Con has been sold out for months!"

"Do you really want to know?" Sarah asked with a look on her face saying that he most certainly did not.

But Chuck, being Chuck, didn't get the message and said, "Yeah, of course. How?"

"Well," Sarah said, "there was this geekthat, uh, said he had some extra tickets. We arranged a meeting where he would give me his terms. The little twerp tricked me into a date, but I got the tickets."

"Wha'?" Chuck asked. "Date?"

"It was nothing," Sarah said. "Just lunch, really."

"Why would you do that?" asked Chuck, obviously touched that Sarah would go on a date with a geek for him.

"For you," Sarah said, smiling. "I wanted you to be surprised."

"Well, I certainly am surprised," Chuck said, giving Sarah another one of his special smiles. "Thank you. But why are there four tickets?"

"Uh, one for you, one for me, one for Morgan, and one for Casey," Sarah said, sitting on Chuck's bed.

"Casey?" asked Chuck in confusion. Obviously there was an asset-security based reason for his coming along.

"He's a Browncoat," Sarah shrugged. Chuck's mouth fell open in shock. That certainly wasn't something he had ever expected Sarah to say. Admittedly, the NSA agent had more than a passing resemblance to Jayne, but it was still quite unexpected.

"Thank you, Sarah. You didn't have --" Chuck started to say.

"But I wanted to, and besides, it's going to be fun!" Sarah smiled again.

Chuck felt his knees weaken and his heart start to get warmer. He never could resist that smile.

Chuck whispered, "Not with Casey around."

"Of course it's going to be fun! You haven't seen his costume yet!" Sarah playfully slapped Chuck's shoulder.

He laughed, "Can't wait to see that. And what costume are you wearing? Hopefully something ugly, because if anyone sees you they're going to keep following you. I mean, even if you wear something ugly, you'll still be beautiful"

That earned him another slap in the shoulder. "I'm not going to tell you, and I picked out what you're going to wear."

"Ouch, What happened to 'can't damage the Intersect' thingy? And I will find a way to make you tell me what costume you got for me."

"No, you won't. Have you forgotten? I'm a CIA agent. And I'm not damaging you," Sarah whispered.

"I will! What if you accidentally choose a character that's gay?" Chuck said with a serious face

"You'll just have to deal with that!" Sarah stuck her tongue out.

Chuck grabbed her by the shoulders, pushed her to his bed, and pinned her to the mattress and started to tickle her.

"Surrender?" Chuck asked with his biggest, most genuine smile

"Hahahah! Ne-haahaha-ver!" Sarah managed to say between laughs. _How did he find out I was ticklish?_

"Never, eh? You have a high opinion of your ability to resist the patented Bartowski tickle attack, Agent Walker," said Chuck.

Sarah tried to maneuver herself into a more defensible position, but she was convulsing too hard from Chuck's Bartowski onslaught.

"Do you give?" he asked.

"Never!"

"You'll talk before long, Agent Walker. Everyone talks."

Sarah fought off the instinct that pulled her arms into her torso as Chuck continued the tickle offence and an idea suddenly struck her. Before she could implement her counterattack, however, she made the mistake of looking up at Chuck's beaming face. There was no resisting it, but they were now frozen in a silent gaze, and drew slowly closer together.

That was, of course, until they were interrupted by the most inopportune knock at the door ever. Ellie barged into the room a moment later, not waiting for an answer.

"Chuck, where are the..." His sister trailed off, seeing the two on the bed. "Oh, sorry. I didn't know that you were here, Sarah."

The two occupants of the bed were, more or less, frozen in place, which was no mean feat considering Chuck was essentially hovering just an inch from Sarah's face. Each was embarrassed but for different reasons. Chuck because his sister had not only walked in on him but because it had happened with Sarah. Beautiful, wonderful, amazing, so out-of-his-league Sarah. On the other hand, Sarah was embarrassed because she had been caught off guard, and it was probably all on Casey's surveillance. As if he needed more ammunition to needle her about her "lady-feelings".

Slowly sliding herself from under Chuck and off the bed, Sarah flashed Ellie a smile.

"Sorry, Ellie," she said. "I just came over to drop some tickets off for Chuck."

"Oh, that's okay," Ellie said, still standing in the doorway. "Uh, you're staying for dinner, right?"

"Actually, I think it's better if I go." Sarah was blushing.

------

"What happened to this damn thing? It won't work." Casey slammed the side of his surveillance equipment in a futile attempt to get it working again. "Damn thing's always on the blink. Okay, this isn't working. It's Walker's job to watch the idiot now. I think I'll have the day off. Now, where did I put that Scotch?"

------

"No, Sarah, please stay," Ellie cried out. "I'll be upset if you don't."

Sarah felt her phone vibrate on her pocket. "Sorry." She flipped it open and read what it said.

_Surveillance broken. You're on your own. I'm off. Enjoy baby-sitting the moron._

Sarah took a deep breath and said, "Okay, seems like I'm staying".

Ellie's joy quickly erupted in Casa Bartowski. "Yay! I'll leave you two alone for a moment, but, remember, food's getting cold!" Ellie winked at Chuck and closed the door behind her.

The two were left in the room, and it was a decidedly uncomfortable atmosphere that Ellie had left behind. Sarah was standing to the side of the bed, while Chuck seemed to be on the verge of a torrent of profanity at coming **that** close, again, only to be denied, again. Sometimes he thought a lot of people spent way too much time thinking up ways to stop his being with Sarah. It had to be the only explanation for all of the bad timing whenever he got close to his objective.

"Uhh, about earlier," began Chuck, "sorry, I got a little distracted."

"Yeah, me too," admitted Sarah.

"What made you change your mind? I thought you would've been out of here before I could turn around."

"Casey sent me this," she said, showing him the phone with the text still on the screen, "and, well, I guess I can't let you out of my sight."

Sarah was trying not to think about the last time she had said that. That was the last thing she needed to be filling her mind in the state she was in.

"Let's not keep Ellie waiting, shall we?" said Chuck.

"No, that wouldn't be a very good start to my 'round-the-clock protection. Letting my asset get throttled by his own sister within 20 minutes of taking control does not look good on a CV."

"Well, then, after you, milady," said Chuck, trying to be suave and failing almost totally.

Sarah just laughed, and Chuck was surprised at how it seemed he could do no wrong in her eyes. Then, in a strange display of mental synchronicity with Sarah, he started to smile as he realized what had happened the last time she couldn't let him out of her sight.

Chuck followed Sarah down the hall to the dining room. Both were practically drooling before they were able to sit at the table. The smell of Ellie's special spaghetti usually did that to people, but Chuck and Sarah were both lovers of spaghetti. Once seated, Chuck served himself and Sarah very large helpings of the dinner along with the salad and breadsticks that Ellie had set out.

"Mmmm," Sarah moaned before taking a bite of her food. "Looks and smells amazing as always, Ellie."

"Thanks, Sarah," Ellie said with a satisfied smile.

The small dinner party of four, consisting of Chuck, Sarah, Devon, and Ellie, was relatively quiet. Conversation was about work or life in general, but the Woodcombs were watching Chuck and Sarah closely because they expected something was off in their relationship, and Chuck and Sarah felt like they were being watched even though they didn't know why. Casey's surveillance was inactive, but Sarah wouldn't put it past her partner to try and trick her by telling her the cameras weren't recording and waiting for her guard to slip. The little dinner party was quiet until someone knocked on the front door.

"I wonder who that could be," said Ellie sarcastically as she got up to answer the door.

"Hello, Morgan," she said, speaking even as she opened the door, and, sure enough, the little bearded man was standing outside, looking hopeful.

"Can I come in?" he asked.

"There's no point arguing, so, whatever, come on in," said Ellie in defeat.

As Morgan crossed the threshold Sarah noticed something radically different about him.

"Morgan, what happened to your beard?" she asked.

"Why? Whatever do you mean?" he said, feigning ignorance.

"It's gotten more – more..." She trailed off before looking to Chuck for help.

"Lumberjack-y?" he supplied.

"Yeah, that'll do. Anyway, what happened?" she said, returning her attention to Morgan.

"Man," he whined, "Chuck didn't tell you?"

"Chuck didn't tell me what," she said with menace, turning back to Chuck.

Chuck shot Morgan a look that said _What the hell, man?_ before timidly answering Sarah's question.

"Morgan and I are seeing who can go the longest without shaving," he blurted out quickly.

Ellie rolled her eyes at this new development, but Sarah looked at Chuck in a new light. Yes, that was definitely stubble.

"You're not growing a beard," she said flatly.

"Why not?" asked Chuck defensively.

"Because if you love me, you'll take what I think into account for once!" she said before storming off, and Ellie followed her.

"Never say no to the lady, dude," was Awesome's sage advice.

"Real good advice there, Devon," said Chuck sarcastically.

"Hey, I'm just saying," he began, before lowering his voice so Morgan couldn't hear. "Besides, you never want to make someone who can kill you with her bare hands mad."

When Sarah got to Chuck's room with Ellie, she dried her tears and started to giggle. She gave Ellie a high five. "That totally worked."

"You bet it did. No to beards!" Ellie started to quietly laugh.

* * *

_A/N: I hoped you liked chapter one. Stay tuned for more. (:_


	2. The Fun Is Just Beginning

Chuck felt guilty for not telling Sarah. He ran to the bathroom and quickly shaved the beard that already had started to grow.

After he finished, he ran to his bedroom and knocked on the door.

"Sarah, I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I shaved it already and I would do it a million times and more to prove that I really care about you. Please come out. I didn't mean to hurt you. I love you." Chuck stood outside his own room.

Sarah and Ellie now felt guilty.

'I think it's better if you open the door,' Ellie whispered.

Sarah opened the door and met Chuck's clean shaved face. He had his sweet smile on and his eyes told that everything he said was true. She didn't care. She pushed him into a deep kiss right in front of Ellie. "To hell with PDA."

Even though the two had been embarrassed to be caught kissing not an hour earlier, now they didn't care. They found the kiss growing deeper as the seconds passed. The only reason they even noticed Ellie trying to discreetly exit the room was because she struggled with the Morgan Door and had to eventually try to squeeze through the door that the kissing couple were currently blocking. Chuck and Sarah politely moved, neither breaking the kiss. Chuck blindly shut the door and Sarah led him to the bed.

Sarah's legs bumped into the bed and caused the two to fall. By this time, both needed to breathe. The kiss broke and the happy fake/real couple looked into each other's eyes.

"Whoa," said Chuck breathlessly, staring down at Sarah. Her eyes were wide open and not even an agent's training could have hidden the raw emotion on her face.

"Yeah," she answered, just as breathlessly. Chuck was always so open with his emotions, even if she had rather forced him into his declaration of love. Now why was she struggling to reciprocate?

Chuck obviously noticed the conflict that made its way onto her face, and he moved to reassure her: "Hey, I didn't say it to hear it back, but you deserved to know how I feel."

Sarah tried to steel herself for the most important three words she had ever said, or would likely ever say. Why is this so hard? she asked herself. Her throat was dry as she tried to force her vocal chords to say something, anything, that would show Chuck how she felt.

Here goes nothing, she thought as she opened her mouth to speak...

"Chuck," she whispered, "I lov...I can't say it. I don't know why. I'm sorry."

Chuck was hurt that she couldn't say it. Even though he said that he would be okay if she couldn't say the three words back, a part of him was hurt when it proved that she couldn't. But he didn't want Sarah to know that he was hurt. It was hard for her. He knew that. So Chuck offered her a small smile and said, "It's okay, Sarah. Like I said, I didn't say it to hear back. I just wanted you to know."

Sarah offered Chuck a weak smile. She knew that he was just trying to make her feel better.

Just like always,she thought. Why can't I say it? It's just three words. "Chuck, I lo..." What? I can't even think it? There must be something I can do to show him that I care. But what?

An idea came to her then. Before she could stop herself, she blurted, "Chuck, I don't know why I can't say those three words, but I think that I can tell you something that will maybe let you see that I lo....care about you greatly."

"What?" Chuck asked excitedly even though he didn't want to pressure Sarah into saying or doing anything.

"My real name," Sarah began.

"But I already know your real name," Chuck said confused. "It's 'Jenny Burton'."

"No," Sarah said, shaking her head. She was glad that he remembered, although she knew he would. "My real name is..."

Sarah took a deep breath, and her hands were shaky. Wow, it's been a while since I shared something real about me with someone, she thought to herself. She looked into his eyes and was about to say her real name when Chuck stopped her with a soft kiss.

After they parted, Chuck whispered in her ear as he hugged her "You don't need to share it now. I know you how you are. I love you as Sarah Walker and I'm sure I'll love whatever name you have too."

That made Sarah want to cry; she thought that she didn't deserve him.

"I want to share with you something really special to me, so that I can demonstrate how much I care about you." Sarah returned the embrace.

"Your presence here with me is all I could ask for. You're my greatest gift in life."

Sarah was shocked beyond words. Not even her father had come close to saying that to her, yet despite her best efforts; all the heart wrenching moments she had no choice but to put Chuck through, he still saw her as the greatest part of his life.

"Chuck, do you really mean that?" she asked timidly, sounding more like an unsure schoolgirl than an emotionally hardened CIA agent.

"Of course I mean it," he answered. "I wouldn't have become what I am today without you."

"You've always had the potential to do anything you wanted," she reassured him.

"But you unlocked that potential. Everything 'heroic'"-he made the air quotes to show his skepticism about _that_ particular point- "that I've ever done has been, in one way or another, for you. Jumping off the Buy More roof; I couldn't have done that if it was Casey she had hostage."

"What about when you were with Jill? That really hurt me, you know? Can you really say that everything you did then was for me. Look me in the eyes and tell me that."

Dammit Walker! she berated herself,why did you have to go and bring that up? Surely there's a better time?

Chuck was not put out by Sarah's obvious dislike, and he liked to think jealousy, towards his ex. In fact, he thought it was cute. He shrugged in response to Sarah's questioning, but Sarah was having none of that.

"I want an answer, Chuck," she said. And it was the truth. She _did_want to know, but she also knew that she could have asked him at any other time. She blamed Jill and her traitorous, boyfriend stealing, brunette, science loving self for the inopportune questioning. It was Jill's fault for making Sarah feel the way she felt when all of the drama happened. It was Jill who was making her ask these questions _now_**.** Or at least that was the reason she was sticking to.

"Well, Sarah," Chuck said, "I can't say that I did that totally for you. I was hurting too and I see you with marks. I saw you with Bryce. And at the time, you had repeatedly told me that nothing was ever going to happen between us. That it couldn't happen. Jill came back. She was my chance to return to normal. Of course, that turned out not to be true, but at the time I thought it was. Then when I realized that everything was perfect like I thought it would be, I still had feelings for Jill. But throughout all of that, I never stopped thinking about you. I just...it was a mistake. I see that now. And I can't take it back. But, while it wasn't done totally for you, I thought that without me you would be able to date anyone you wanted. Someone you liked. Someone like Bryce or Cole. A hero."

"Chuck," Sarah said, "how many times do I have to tell you that you are a hero? That you are the guy that I want? Not because you're the Intersect. Not because you know kung-fu. But because you're sweet, funny, charming, amazing, and everything that I've always wanted and needed. I was just too blind to see it at first. Chuck, I love you for you."

Both Chuck and Sarah paused. Chuck wasn't quite sure that he heard her right and Sarah wasn't sure she had actually said what she thought she said. The room was quiet. The two silently replayed the last few moments in their head. Suddenly Chuck smiled him million-watt smile, the smile reserved for Sarah and Sarah alone.

"You said it," he said simply.

"Yeah," Sarah agreed, "yeah, I did. And I meant it, Chuck."

"I know you did," Chuck said before pulling her into a kiss.

Chuck led Sarah to his bed, their lips never apart. They fell on the bed. It was a special day for them.

A heavy make out session commenced, and it all seemed too good to be true. Mostly because it was, as they heard the doorbell ring.

Sarah was starting to pull away, but Chuck pulled her back to him. "Leave. It. To. Ellie" Chuck said between kisses. She let it go.

------

Morgan had already left with Anna. She practically dragged him out of there. Apparently, she didn't like beards either.

Ellie wondered who it could be this late at night. She went to open the door.

"Hi, do you know where I can find Sarah Walker?" a tall red head asked Ellie. "I'm her best friend. Carina."

Ellie was surprised that Sarah hadn't mentioned Carina in the past, but then she realized that Sarah didn't much like to talk about her past to anyone, so it was certainly conceivable that she wouldn't have mentioned Carina.

"Yeah, sure. She's with Chuck at the moment, shall I get her?" asked Ellie, motioning vaguely towards Chuck's bedroom.

"No, it's alright. I want to surprise her. Would it be okay if I could just go in and see her?" responded Carina.

"No problem at all. I'd knock first though," was Ellie's helpful advice, allowing Carina to enter the apartment.

"Thanks...Elizabeth wasn't it?" said Carina.

"Ellie," said Ellie in annoyance.

"Of course, of course. I probably should have known that. Where is Sarah?"

"The room at the end of the hall."

"Thanks," said Carina as she began walking towards Chuck's bedroom door.

* * *

_A/N: Thanks to Pez for the beta! And to the wonderful authors that contributed to this story! (:_

_Enjoy the Chuck episode tonight! I'll see you back here tomorrow for another update of some sort. lol. Please review! I know the authors would appreciate it.  
_


	3. Oh, Crap!

_A/N: Now the story really gets exciting. ;-)_

_I would like to thank all of the authors and editors that helped me construct this, in my opinion, wonderful piece of fan fiction. I know that I speak for all of them when I say that we would LOVE it if you would review. :)_

_Enjoy reading! I know I did.  
_

* * *

Carina stopped outside Chuck's door with her hand hovering over the door knob. She could hear the unmistakable sounds of a heavy make-out session on the other side.

_Oh, this should be fun__, _she thought, as her mouth twisted into an evil smile. She yanked the door open and barged in at full speed.

"What is going on here?" the highly amused redhead yelled in her best evil Beckman impersonation.

The bed's occupants were so deep into kissing that Agent Walker had vanished and the real girl that had been released, thanks to Chuck, got one hell of a shock, and jumped high in the air off of Chuck and landed on the floor. Chuck could only stare at the tall-skinny-super-model-agent with a wide open mouth.

A second later the real girl inside Sarah had been reluctantly locked away and Agent Walker was back and had jumped to her feet, holding a throwing knife ready for attack.

"What? Is that how you welcome an old friend?" Carina said with a now warmer smile.

"Says the person who welcomes her friends with a ninja duel," began Sarah sarcastically, before relaxing and putting the knife away. "Carina, what are you doing here?"

Chuck was still lying in bed with his mouth open wide enough for a small family of birds to nest in.

"General Beckman hasn't told you? I am brainy-boy's new handler!" Carina now had the evil smile back in full effect.

Chuck and Sarah seemed to both share a simultaneous heart attack.

"New...handler?" asked Chuck in disbelief.

"Beckman seems to think you need more protection, so we'll be working together on a temporary basis to see how the team functions," answered Carina.

"Wait, why weren't either Casey or I informed of this?" asked Sarah. She was struggling to fathom what was going on. The last time Beckman had brought in a new team member one of the existing members would have been replaced, if not for a fortunate sequence of events. It was a period of time both Chuck and Sarah had largely tried to repress, although Sarah still harbored a strong desire to obliterate Agent Forrest.

"She wanted me to surprise you; see how you well you two are doing your jobs as handlers. Not a good start, Walker. Nice technique though, Chucky."

Both Chuck and Sarah's hearts collectively fell at this comment from Carina, the comment about Chuck's make-out technique notwithstanding. Surely Sarah wouldn't be reassigned now? Not after all they'd been through?

"We're just protecting our cover," Sarah said, switching into professional spy mode, though even as she said it she knew how weak it sounded.

"You mean you two haven't slept together yet?" Carina asked in disbelief. "You guys are pathetic. I was sure you two had done it by now. Hell, I even had money on it with Casey. Thanks for costing me that by the way. What's wrong, Walker? Chuck isn't big enough for you?"

"Hey!" Chuck protested. "I am plenty b--"

"Chuck," Sarah said, the look on her face telling him to be quiet, "don't. Carina, we're just a cover. That's it."

"Well, that certainly ruins the fun, but nice work on shoring up your cover." Carina said, the disbelief in her tone evident. "And here I thought you two would fall for my little trick."

"Trick?" Sarah cocked her head.

"Do you really think that Beckman would send me to watch over you guys?" Carina laughed. "She knows as well as everyone else that if I were assigned onto the team I would have slept with all of you in a matter of days. I'm just here because I need your help."

"Let me guess," Chuck said. "You want us to steal a diamond?"

"No," Carina said, winking at Chuck, "but maybe later. I like the geek's thinking. The mission is...."

Carina trailed off. She could not believe she was asking a nerd for help. Sarah she could handle, but Chuck was obviously well below her league, even if he was an "analyst" who needed full time protection from two deep cover agents. It couldn't be helped though. It would probably be better to get on with it.

"Look," Carina continued, "I wouldn't ask for help unless I needed it. Sarah, you know that. So, the mission, I need to seduce Arthur McDowell. A hotshot CEO of a company that is a front for a major drug corporation."

"You need help with seduction?" Sarah asked with a smirk.

"What does the company do?" asked Chuck cut in.

"I'll get to the seduction thing in a minute, Sarah," Carina said through gritted teeth, annoyed that she needed to ask Sarah for help in what was essentially her specialty skill. She had always been competitive. "But, yes, I need help. This is a very special situation. To answer the second question, I am not sure. They wouldn't tell me. Something to do with Global Positioning Systems?"

Chuck flashed. Sarah was able to tell that he was, in fact, flashing. She had worked with him long enough. But Carina didn't and that led to her saying...

"Hey, Sarah, I think your boy toy has gas."

Chuck came out of the flash then. Instead of retorting to Carina's comment, he whispered in Sarah's ear, "I need to talk with you. Privately."

Sarah understood. She also knew that getting Carina out of the room was not going to happen. So she politely excused both herself and Chuck from the room. Of course, Carina argued, as Sarah knew she would, but eventually the two were able to leave.

Once out in the hallway, Chuck started talking.

"Sarah, this Arthur guy is super dangerous," Chuck said, obvious worry in his tone. "Whatever the mission is, it isn't going to be easy."

"Okay, nothing we haven't dealt with before," Sarah said, trying to calm him. "But, Chuck, what did you see?"

"I'm not sure," Chuck answered. "I couldn't make it out. All I know is that the guy is dangerous and we need to be careful."

"I don't like the sound of that," Sarah said, her face grim. "Usually your flashes give us an upper hand, or at least some more information about the target. Now we're walking blindly into what could very well be a trap, and I know for a fact you aren't going to stay in the car. I don't want to risk you getting hurt."

"There's one other thing I need to tell you," Chuck said.

"What?" asked Sarah.

"Carina's Fulcrum."


	4. And the Plot Thickens

_A/N: I have to say that while reading this story over, I fall in love with it all over again. It may not be the most well written thing on this site or even in this fandom, but it flows pretty well, in my opinion, considering we had 11 authors working on it. I hope you enjoy where we took it. I know we all did. :)_

_Please review! :)  
_

* * *

Fulcrum? Are you sure?" hissed Sarah. It would be a blow to her if one of the few people she actually trusted had turned on her.

"Of course I'm sure, when has this" -he tapped his temple for emphasis- "ever been wrong?" responded Chuck.

"Dammit!" she mumbled to herself. This is what happens when I trust people. It just gets thrown back in my face, just like with Dad.

"So what do we do?" asked Chuck, looking to Sarah to come up with a way out of the situation, just as she always did.

"_I_ will deal with Carina. She's probably not going to try anything, but you stay here where it's safe," Sarah ordered. "Call Casey and let him know we're coming over; I'll figure out a way to get rid of Carina."

Sarah walked back into the bedroom purposefully, but her head was swimming with doubts about everybody she'd met and trusted in the past and even on this assignment. Only Chuck was above suspicion in her mind. As her father had told her, he would never betray her. That was her only certainty in the world. She bit back a smile when she heard Chuck's muttering from behind her.

"Stay in the hallway, Chuck. Can't they mix it up for once? I'd like to see _Casey_ get told that. Just once. Please. God?"

When Sarah re-entered Chuck's room, she found Carina calmly sitting on the bed, absent-mindedly thumbing through one of Chuck's old comic books.

"Hey, Sarah," Carina said casually, tossing the comic book aside.

"How could you betray your country like this?" Sarah asked, getting right to the point, her voice wavering with the betrayal she felt. "I trusted you."

"I have no clue what you're talking about," Carina said, trying her best to look innocent.

"Liar!" Sarah spat, suddenly angry. "You work for Fulcrum!"

Carina actually smiled at this, which led to Sarah lunging towards her. Carina swiftly jumped off the bed and out of Sarah's way. Sarah tripped on the edge of the bed, but she recovered faster than Carina could prepare for the punch that Sarah delivered to her jaw. The punch was so forceful that Carina was actually knocked down. Carina stayed on the floor and used her leg to sweep Sarah off of her feet. Now both women were on the floor. Carina jumped up first, before Sarah could recover her balance and attack her again. She ran to the door and put her arms out in front of her to defend herself.

"Sarah," Carina said, "Wait! I can explain!"

Carina was lucky because Sarah had just started running towards her in an attempt to do more harm, to make her feel the pain of the betrayal Sarah had just experienced. Hearing Carina's plea Sarah stopped, but the look on her face told Carina what Sarah was thinking. Sarah was going to kill her, and she would probably enjoy it too. So, obviously, she needed one hell of an explanation. And Sarah wasn't going to be helping her out of this one.

"Okay, Beckman did send me here," she told Sarah. "But she didn't send me to watch you guys or to seduce whatshisname, Arthur McDowell. She said that she wanted to test something out and that I was the only one she trusted with the "sensitive information' because I've worked with you guys before. Of course, she only told me the necessary information. The nerd, Chuck, is special for some reason."

"Damn straight he is," muttered Sarah defensively to nobody in particular, while Carina continued without giving any indication she had heard.

"She said that certain things or words would give him information about terrorists or whatever," Carina began. "The General sent me here to try that out with what she called 'false flash clues'. Saying that if I said 'Global Positioning Systems' and 'CEO' and 'major drug corporation' Chuck would somehow think that this Arthur guy was dangerous, he's just a desk clerk by the way, and that I worked for something called 'Fulcrum' which is crazy since I work for the DEA. Plus, Fulcrum seems to be bad and while I'm not what anyone would call trustworthy in most things, I'm loyal to my country."

Sarah obviously believed the explanation. She knew that Carina wasn't smart enough to make it up by herself and she was loyal to her country, which was one reason Sarah was so mad when she thought that she was Fulcrum. She didn't know how she could have misjudged someone so badly. Of course, now she knew that Carina was still Carina. But that didn't make Sarah any less wary.

"So Chuck was wrong?" Sarah asked carefully.

"Yeah," Carina nodded, slowly lowering her arms, "he was."

"This is not good," Sarah said mostly to herself.

"That's what General Beckman said," Carina added. "And that if the 'test' proved successful or positive, I'm not quite sure which word she used, then I was to report the results to her and that she would move Chuck to a bunker."

"NO!" Sarah shouted, unable to control her emotions. "He can't go to a bunker! He has a family that needs him! Friends! Me!"

"I knew you liked him," Carina smiled. Then she realized what the situation meant for her friend. "Sorry, Sarah, orders are orders. You know that. I don't have a choice in the matter and neither do you."

"I know," Sarah sighed, "but it can't happen. I _won't_ let it happen. Chuck means everything to me and he is _not_ getting thrown into a bunker. And if he does, he's not going to be staying there for long."

"This is a new you, Sarah Walker," Carina said. "One I've never seen before. I like it. And whatever you decide, I'll support you one hundred percent."

"Really?" Sarah asked, surprised.

"Of course," Carina said with a smile. "Just don't get us killed."

"Thanks," Sarah said, returning the smile.

Sarah took a minute to compose herself before opening the bedroom door and motioning Chuck inside. He stepped inside and saw Carina simply standing there, looking at him.

"Sarah! She's Fulcrum!" he hissed as he jumped back in shock. "Why isn't she tied up or something?!"

"Chuck, it's okay, she's not Fulcrum," she put her hand on his shoulder to calm him down.

Carina had a smug look on her face, "You can still tie me up if you want to Chuck."

"Carina!" shouted Sarah, suddenly irrationally jealous of an innocuous comment by Carina, who really was just being Carina. She calmed herself down quickly and then set about trying to save face before another snide comment from her friend. "Come on, now really isn't the time to try and seduce my 'boy toy', as you so elegantly put it."

Carina at least had the good sense to look somewhat ashamed.

"Okay, so she's not Fulcrum? But I thought..." Chuck trailed off.

"Chuck, your, err, skills gave us bad intelligence. Beckman sent Carina here to test them out, it was all a fake. She's not Fulcrum. Arthur McDowell is a nobody pencil pusher. Chuck..." Sarah forced herself to look into his beautiful brown, trusting eyes. "Beckman wants to put you in a bunker."

Chuck's eyes started to flutter almost like he was having a flash. As soon as he started to faint Sarah caught him and lowered him tenderly to the bed.

"Well," Casey grunted as he climbed in the Morgan door, "at least this way we don't have to watch the moron deal with his lady feelings."

* * *

_A/N 2: Okay, well, I didn't end it on a cliffhanger this time but it makes you wonder what will happen, huh? I will update when I get at least twenty reviews. I know I get at least twenty times that many hits, so that's my evil plan. Mwahaha! _

_Fine. Twenty reviews or next week. lol. I need time to edit the next chapter. :p_

_PS. I did a very quick edit on this so if you see any mistakes, please mention them in your review. Thanks. :)  
_

_Until next time, _

_SLWF  
_


	5. Moving Forward

_A/N: Hi, all! So the reason it has taken me so long to update this fic is a) I felt it needed to be edited (but then I gave up on that. Sorry, it's unedited.) and b) much to the surprise of many of my online associates, I have a life. _

___Here you go! Enjoy! Please review! :) _

___

* * *

_

Lying on the floor, Chuck woke up and immediately looked around to see where he was. Seeing only Sarah, he relaxed immediately before taking in the rest of his surroundings and finding out that he was in his bedroom.

Sarah, worried, asked him softly "Chuck, are you okay?"

"I think so," he answered as he sat up. "What happened?"

Sitting down next to him and placing a reassuring hand on his leg, Sarah responded, "You fainted after Carina told you what would happen if Beckman finds out that the new Intersect has flaws. "

Chuck took a moment to process this. When he did, he said, "This can't be happening again, Sarah. What's going to happen to Ellie and Awesome? Us? Morgan? You know he's not used to living independently."

"Chuck, I said I'd do anything to protect you," Sarah whispered with steely resolve, "and that's one promise I will _never_ break."

Chuck grabbed Sarah's hand and took a deep breath, "I know, Sarah, I know."

"Don't worry," said Carina, suddenly appearing at the still-open window, this time with Casey in tow, "I won't say a thing. Of course, I may need some compensation for the arduous task of lying to Beckman."

Sarah raised an eyebrow, unsurprised, "Now that's the Carina we all know and tolerate. What do you want?"

"I need your help with something." Carina simply said.

"What is it this time?" asked Chuck, before adding, "Do I at least get to buy the suit?"

Carina looked at Casey, almost silently ordering him to speak, "Time for a new mission. Oh, and Bartowski? We're never trusting you with government money after the gambling incident. _I'm_ buying the suit."

"Chuck, trust me," Sarah said, looking him in the eyes. "We'll be fine, I'll figure something out."

* * *

Back at the Castle, Chuck, Sarah, Casey and Carina all stand in front of the wide screen in the central area; the usual spot for meetings with the higher-ups.

"The General should be online shortly, she has some important information to tell us," began Casey, as he stood hands crossed behind his back.

"I wonder what that might be," Chuck muttered under his breath, eyes locked on Sarah, who returned his look with a desperate glare of her own, when the thought of Chuck's potential disappearing act filled her head, and with surprising clarity she could see her future beyond that. It was the saddest thing she could imagine.

_Chuck's not going anywhere without me_, she thought defiantly.

The screen came to life with the usual figure of a sitting General Beckman filling the screen. She looked as she usually did, that is to say, annoyed at the world in general, but particularly annoyed at Chuck.

"Good afternoon, Team," began the General " The Ring threat is bigger than anything we have encountered before, and if Chuck was important in the war against Fulcrum, I hate to say this, but he is invaluable now. His safety has never been more important. Therefore the CIA will be appointing a new official liaison to this project as soon as possible. For now Assistant Director Follmer is the temporary CIA representative at management level."

"I wasn't aware that anybody at the CIA knew about my, er…situation," interjected Chuck, choosing his words carefully due to Carina's presence.

"Agents Walker and Casey," interjected Beckman, ignoring Chuck as she usually did. "Do you remain confident in your abilities to handle the asset? This has been a more testing assignment than either of you have experienced."

That statement shook Sarah out of her musings, and she saw Beckman staring at her expectantly. "I feel well equipped to deal with the new threat posed by the Ring, and to protect the asset, ma'am."

"No worries from me, ma'am," answered Casey. "I'll do my job."

Once Casey had answered, Beckman turned to Carina, who had been standing off to the side looking slightly bored while the General spoke with the "official" Team Bartowski. "Have you tested the concept we discussed with your arrival on the asset?"

Carina answered, "Yes, I did. I don't particularly understand why you asked me to be so specific, but it has been done."

"The Government doesn't pay you to understand, we pay you to get results. So what are they?" said Beckman.

"Whatever you were expecting to happen, didn't. I wasn't accused of being rogue, as you warned me." Carina lied. "May I have permission to share my thoughts about the situation?"

"You may proceed," said General Beckman, looking attentively at Carina.

"We all know that the asset is certainly in more danger than before, although why the Ring would be interested in a computer technician I don't know, but according to what I've been thinking, if the asset is removed then the Ring would certainly notice a change in governmental activity. Since they probably know about Agent Walker and Colonel Casey, they would realize that the asset had been removed once they were reassigned, and that narrows down where he could be to a select few government compounds. He would be safer here," Carina suggested.

"I see you've given this a lot of thought, Agent Miller, and for what it's worth, I agree. Mr. Bartowski, you should thank Agent Miller, because she is the reason why you're are not going to a bunker. That having been said, there will be some changes on this team. Agent Walker and Mr. Bartowski are now moving together for full protection. And I am not accepting no for an answer this time. Agent Miller, you are now officially a member of this team. Let one of my staff know what needs to be sent to Burbank as soon as possible. Any questions?"

Everybody was numb; they couldn't believe what had just happened to the team. Chuck and Sarah had to school their features during the General's speech, so that they wouldn't explode with happiness.

"Yes ma'am." They responded in unison. Even Chuck was being more formal now in front of the General.

"Good. About the mission you are all assigned to do in a couple of days, we'll have a briefing tomorrow morning. Consider yourselves free for the night." The image of the General and the Assistant Director soon disappeared from the screen.

"You two both owe me big. Understand?" said Carina pointedly, glaring at Chuck and Sarah.

Sarah came over to give Carina a hug and whispered, "Thank you." When she finally released Carina, she found Chuck standing behind her. As Chuck closed in to give Carina a hug, he found himself confronted with Carina's raised hand.

"One hug is enough. Don't make me regret my decision. Although if you're willing to reconsider my offer to come up to my hotel room…" she finished seductively, leaving the sentence hanging.

"No, no reconsideration needed," began Chuck, looking extremely flustered while Sarah looked almost ready to burst into flames on the spot, despite a valiant attempt at controlling her jealousy. She knew what Carina was trying to do to her. "While still being flattered, and incredibly intimidated, I'm still gonna have to say no," Chuck finished.

"Worth a shot," said Carina, before she turned and addressed Casey, "So, Johnny, you think you might be able to handle me this time?"

Casey responded under his breath, "Why didn't I listen to my mother and stay in the choir. Then I wouldn't be in this situation."

As Carina and Casey walked upstairs, Chuck suddenly realized that Sarah possibly might not be happy with the idea of moving in with him. He knew she loved him; she'd tried to tell him as much earlier, but there was always that little nagging doubt in the back of his mind. Although General Beckman told them she was not accepting no for an answer, he knew if Sarah did not care for the idea, he would somehow convince Beckman he couldn't do it. He'd do anything to make her happy, even if it cost him his happiness.

Chuck mentally braced himself for rejection as he turned to face Sarah, however all thought left his brain as he looked into her face. She was giving him the biggest smile that he had ever seen, and Chuck knew she felt the same way he did. He struggled between wanting to see the smile remain on her face and wanting to kiss her. His desire to kiss her won.

When Chuck moved in to give her a kiss, it took Sarah a little longer than it should have for her to remember the surveillance cameras. Taking a step back, Sarah said to him, in order to take his mind off a mutually desired yet wholly inappropriate outcome, "Uh, Chuck we should go tell Ellie and Awesome you'll be moving out."

Before Chuck could respond, Sarah grabbed his hand and quickly led him upstairs.

* * *

_________________________________________________A/N: Also, since I don't really plan on editing (just polishing) the chapters should be posted a lot faster. Can't wait for you all to see how it ends! ;) _

_________________________________________________And, of course, thanks to the eleven individuals that put this amazing story together! I hope to work with you some more on the next installment! :)  
_


	6. SEX! Or, you know, not?

_A/N: I'm baaaacccckkk! And so is this story! I hope you haven't forgotten about it completely (like me)! Haha. Please read and review! _

_

* * *

_

After three years of pure sexual tension. They couldn't wait to get to Casa Bartowski. It all started after Sarah opened Chuck's side of the car. Lucky thing her automatic door opener wasn't working. Sarah was about to go to the driver her side of the car, however, Chuck stopped her in her tracks by grabbing her hand and spinning her around on his lap to meet him with a full blossoming kiss. Sarah was about to protest because they were in a car, but she gave up and grabbed two handfuls of his curly brown hair and put her legs on both sides of Chuck's hips. Chuck was about to lift Sarah's shirt, but Sarah stopped him. She put her forehead on his, with her eyes closed she whispered, "Do you really want our first time to be in a car? Shouldn't it be something or somewhere more special?"

"I couldn't agree more," Chuck said putting both of his hands on Sarah's cheeks and giving her another kiss. They were so deep in the moment that they didn't notice Carina coming in their direction.

Carina knocked on Sarah's Porsche window, which startled both Sarah and Chuck. "Hah! I won! Casey owes me 50 bucks! Couldn't wait to get home, huh? Sounds like fun what you guys were doing. Mind if I join, sis?" Carina gave them an evil grin.

"Carina," Sarah sighed, glaring at the redhead. "What are you doing?"

"Oh, you know," Carina said, her voice muffled by the window. "Just watching you and Chuckie boy here get it on. Very interesting, by the way. I haven't seen you look that into it since that time in Morocco with Bryce."

To this, Chuck quickly rolled down the window and asked, "Bryce?"

"Yeah," Carina smiled. "It was hot. Trust me. What made it better was that the two took down an entire drug ring. The same day. With my help, of course."

"How'd they manage to do that?" asked Chuck, curiosity and jealousy in his voice.

"Let me in the car and I'll tell you," Carina said.

"There's no room," said Sarah, butting into the conversation. "Besides, Chuck doesn't want to hear about that boring mission anyway."

"Yes, I do," Chuck argued. "And it doesn't sound boring at all, sweetie."

"It wasn't," Carina said. "Quite the opposite actually. Plus, Sarah, you can just stay there on Chuck's lap. I'll drive."

"See?" Chuck said, turning to Sarah. "Carina will drive and tell us all about the time you and Bryce were in Morocco."

"This is a mistake, Chuck," Sarah warned. "But if you insist, Carina, get in."

"Door's locked," Chuck reminded her.

"Right," Sarah said, leaning over to the driver's side door and unlocking it for Carina.

The redhead quickly walked over to the other side of the car and got in.

"Thank you," the DEA agent said. "Now you two just get back to what you were doing. I'll drive and tell Chuck all about Morocco."

"I can't believe you would do this, Carina," Sarah shook her head, moving and positioning herself so that she sat comfortably on Chuck's lap and could look out of the windshield.

Carina shrugged, "Hey, Chuck wants to hear. Might as well tell him all of your dirty little secrets before something bad happens. Like marriage. Keys?"

"Carina..." began Sarah before she gave up. What was the point arguing with her?

"Why do you really not want me to hear this story?" asked Chuck, staring into Sarah's eyes.

"It's nothing bad, it's just...I wanted to keep you away from the darker side of this lifestyle. I said I'd protect you, and I meant from anything," said Sarah defiantly.

"You gone soft, Walker?" said Carina in disbelief at the image before her, which was totally incongruous with the image she had previously held of Sarah.

"No!"-she denied, but gave in when she saw the unconvinced luck on both Carina's -and Chuck's- face-"okay, maybe a little, but this is something I'd really rather tell Chuck myself. He deserves to hear it from me, and not from someone who tends to...exaggerate some details."

"Fine, you tell him then," was Carina's reply.

Damn, I didn't quite think that one all the way through, thought Sarah.

"Ugh," Sarah said, handing Carina the keys. "Here, just drive."

"Yes, ma'am," Carina smirked, taking the keys and starting the car. "Where to?"

"I don't care," Sarah said. "Pick a place. It's going to be a long ride."

"Aw, now, Sarah," Carina said, "If you don't want to tell him, I will happily do it for you."

"I know," said Sarah. "That's why _I_ have to tell him."

"Okay, Walker, there's no time like the present," Carina said, driving. "Start telling him."

"You're right," Sarah said, turning sideways so that she faced Chuck. "Here goes nothing. Chuck, a few years ago, I was assigned a mission. It took place in Morocco. That mission was the first mission where I was assigned a partner. His name, as you know, was Bryce Larkin."

* * *

Sarah Walker had never had a partner before. Never had one, because she didn't need one. And she was sure she didn't need one for this mission. But CIA Director Graham insisted that the mission was too hard for one agent, even one as good as she, to handle alone. Sarah disagreed.

She furiously exited the director's office and headed toward the east wing of the building where she was to meet her new partner. A guy named Bryce Larkin.

Oh, she had heard of him. Everybody had. "Bryce the super spy", they called him. Apparently, good with the women as well. Not that Sarah cared. Or at least she pretended that she didn't.

By the time she got to room fifteen, the one set aside for her meeting with Agent Larkin, her anger had mostly disappeared. As she turned the doorknob to enter, she felt a little thrill. Even though she had told everyone else that being partnered up with Larkin was foolish and that she didn't care, she couldn't help but be excited and rather interested in meeting the agent. Was he as everyone said?

As soon as Sarah stepped into the room, she saw _him_**.** He quickly got out of his seat and stood to greet her.

"Hello, Agent Walker, my name is Bryce Larkin. Pleasure to meet you."

"Pleasure to meet you too, Agent Larkin, I've heard much about you..." said Sarah while looking at him very carefully.

"Only good things I suppose," replied Bryce with an ironic tone.

Sarah quickly answered "You have quite a fan club in this agency, very impressive for a younger person."

He took a step forward, "I didn't know that the CIA had such beautiful agents, I guess I'm just lucky. If you your skills match your beauty I think I will be in good hands..."

"Look, Agent Larkin," started Sarah before being interrupted.

"It's Bryce."

"As I was saying, Bryce, I'm here to do my job and I hope you won't make it harder."

Bryce looked Sarah in the eyes, "I like what I do and try the best that I can..."

"Good" said Sarah while leaving the room "Let's go, we've got the mission briefing in 5 minutes."

* * *

_A/N continued: I would like to thank everyone that read this chapter. It means a lot, especially since it hasn't been updated in FOREVER. Also, I would like to thank the people that contributed to the writing of this fic, big or small. The list of names can be found in the first chapter. I hope you enjoyed it. I hope you will review. But most importantly, I hope you'll read the rest of my writing, past, current, and future. ;) _

_XOXO,_

_SLWF_

_PS. Carrie Underwood, for those of you that don't know, married one Mr. Mike Fisher in July. Don't worry. My heart is slowly, but surely, healing. :p  
_


	7. Partners, Old and New

"Were you really that cold?" asked Chuck. "To Bryce?"

"Yeah," Sarah shrugged. "Like I said, I didn't need a partner and the briefing was in five minutes. No time to chit-chat. Agent Walker's all business."

"I've noticed," Chuck muttered. "So what was the mission about?"

"You weren't that cold towards him for too long Sarah, now were you..." Carina butted in before earning a death-glare from the woman seated comfortably on Chuck's lap.

"That doesn't mean I had really deep and true feelings for him, Carina." Chuck wasn't sure what to think about this statement, but only until his eyes met Sarah's and he saw the second, unmentioned part of that sentence written more than clearly in her wonderful blue eyes, "Nothing like the ones I have for Chuck…" and he smiled one of his 1000-watt smiles as Sarah continued with telling the story…

* * *

"You just had to start shooting, didn't you," accused Sarah, directing a death glare at Carina, as she, Bryce and the DEA agent all hid behind a desk in the meeting room.

"You know they didn't believe you," retorted Carina.

"We could have come up with something!" shouted Sarah.

"Ladies, would you just calm down? Or did you forget about the people still _shooting_ at us?" said Bryce, attempting to mediate.

"Right. Sorry, Agent Larkin," said Sarah.

"It's Bryce," he responded.

"Right now I really don't care," said Sarah coolly. "Just start shooting on my mark."

"Gotcha," said Carina cheekily.

Sarah started counting down from three, using her fingers to avoid their assailants hearing and knowing exactly the moment the three agents would attack. As she closed her final finger back into her fist, she sprang up from behind the desk. Bryce and Carina followed suit almost immediately after, and the sudden onslaught surprised the drug ring members, who were then forced into cover themselves.

"Give up and we'll let you live!" shouted Carina to the cowering suspects. Her answer was an ill-directed shot that skimmed the side of the desk that had once served as their cover.

"I guess that's a no then," said Carina dryly, and with cat-like grace, she vaulted the desk and moved towards the area where the suspects were hiding.

Unfortunately, Carina hadn't noticed that there were other members of the drug ring circling behind her, but they in turn had made the fatal mistake of not noticing either Sarah or Bryce, who were rapidly reloading their weapons.

"Ah, screw it," said Sarah, instead drawing one of her many knives and throwing it with her usual deadly precision. The blade sunk to the hilt into the back of the trailing suspect's neck, which left only two for Sarah and Bryce to deal with.

_Wow, hot_**, **_**and** she can throw a knife like that,_ thought Bryce in amazement. With unexpected synchronicity, Sarah and Bryce both dropped their weapons and moved to engage the two remaining suspects, while Carina, still oblivious to the commotion behind her, prepared to attack the hiding suspects.

Sarah moved quickly and silently to the first suspect, and silenced him with a hand over his mouth quickly before he could warn his comrade, who Bryce then jumped onto. The speed and surprise of the attack from behind meant that it was all over before anyone could blink, and the two suspects dropped to the ground, their necks broken.

"Your buddies are dead, one last chance to give up..."

* * *

"So what happened?" asked Chuck curiously. "Did you kill him?"

"No," Sarah said. "Like I told you, at the briefing we were told to infiltrate the drug ring. Carina just screwed it up."

"I did not!" Carina protested, making a sharp turn to prove her point. "I had to! They were getting suspicious."

"And you just reinforced that suspicion by shooting," Sarah argued.

"Then what happened?" Chuck asked.

"Well, the people we killed were at the bottom of the ring," Sarah said. "Nobodies. But of course, our cover was ruined thanks to Carina. And while we had that one guy on his knees, several higher level goons were heading our way."

"Why?" asked Chuck. "How did they know?"

"Alarm," Carina informed him. "The moment my gun went off, the alarm was set off."

"Then how did you guys shut the ring down?" Chuck asked. "You said you did. How?"

"Well, Chuck," Sarah said, "what happened was..."

* * *

_A/N: Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you all enjoyed this short chapter! More adventures to come! _

_I would like to thank the eleven individuals who helped put this together! And I'm sure we would all appreciate it if you'd review! _

_XOXO,_

_SLWF  
_


	8. I Smell Trouble

_Disclaimer: I guess this does not need to be said, but I, nor do any of the contributing authors (to my knowledge), own Chuck. And, also, this was not edited..._

_

* * *

_

"I'm not afraid of you," spat the last guy.

"Really?" asked Bryce, a smug look on his face. "Because I think you should be. We hold your life in our hands."

"That's what you think," the suspect smirked._ I'm already dead... I prefer a quick shot in the head to a painful death at the hands of my boss. Go ahead, shoot me please, spare me the trouble._

The three looked to each other and Bryce continued, "You can work with us, you have no need to worry, just help us and we'll help you, how does that sound?"

The guy kept staring at the door for a few moments and then said, looking pretty nervous, _"Okay, I'll help you. What do you want?"_

Sarah promptly answered, "We want to take the whole operation down".

Carina continued, "Everything, from top to bottom."

"You heard the ladies, start spilling it all out" ordered Bryce

The guy went from hostage to team member in a few seconds and started giving them all they needed to get out before the second team showed up. "Let's go, follow me, we need to get out first, they should be here any minute... No time for chat now, I'll tell you everything you want as soon as we're out."

"Let me guess, the guy led the three of you out, and then he gave you intel about their operation?" asked Chuck impatiently.

* * *

"Not so fast Chuck," Sarah answered with a smile. She loved it how Chuck could get all excited like a kid about a story she was telling him. One of the many things she loved about him, one of the many things that made her feel warm and comfy in his arms, even when squeezed together in the front seat of a Porsche.

"This is making you very nervous Chucky-boy," Carina smirked, "maybe we shouldn't continue telling you the story, after all you shouldn't be too tensed up when you two reach home…"

Chuck ignored Carina and bugged Sarah for the continuation of the mission-story, he wanted to know exactly what happened to her….not necessarily what happened to her and Bryce…but he was curious…and a bit jealous although they hadn't even reached a time yet when Sarah had opened up to Bryce…

And so Sarah went on with the story…

* * *

The man led the three agents out of a backdoor. Bryce and Carina followed him willingly, but Sarah held back. Her guard was up. Something didn't feel right, but she just could not figure out what it was.

Maybe I'm just a bit frazzled, she thought._ New partner. Carina. The guy surrendered pretty easily..._

And that was when she put it together. She quickly caught up to Carina and Agent Larkin. She forced her way in between the two in order to tell them of her realization but not before Carina made some inappropriate comment.

"Oooohhh, Sarah's in the middle," Carina said. "And as hot as you are, Walker, I'm gonna have to request that you put Bryce in the middle. I think he can take care of both of us, if you get my drift."

"Uh-huh, Carina," Sarah said, although she didn't and neither did she care. "But, guys, I have to tell you something."

"You want a foursome?" Carina said with a mischievous smile. "I don't know where we would find somebody else, but if you want to, I think we could manage."

Bryce smirked. And Sarah could tell that he was holding back laughter. She rolled her eyes at being saddled with two immature agents.

How are we going to get out of here? she asked herself.

Just then, the man came to a stop outside of a warehouse.

"Here we are," he smiled. "We'll be safe here and I can tell you exactly how the business works."

"Go in," Sarah told him, ordering him to go first. "I need to talk to my friends here first. Wait for us inside."

"I don't think that's a good idea," the man hesitated. He knew that Sarah was onto him. "It's better if we all go in together."

"Why?" asked Sarah. "It's supposed to be safe, right?"

"It is," the man replied nervously. "But the people that run the, uh, safe house they don't know you. They know me. We need to go in...together."

"It's not gonna happen," Sarah said. "Now in."

The man held back. Arguing that it would be better if they all entered the warehouse together. Sarah became annoyed and, getting lost in her emotions, fired her gun. The man dropped dead.

"Great, Walker," Carina said, "Now we'll never know what he was going to say."

"He wasn't going to tell us anything," Sarah said. "This is a trap. And if you guys had listened to me before instead of going on about sex, I would have been able to tell you that."

"Trap?" asked Bryce, clearly not buying it. "No. It's perfectly safe. See?"

With that Bryce opened the door and walked into the warehouse. Cautiously and with their guns pulled, Sarah and Carina followed. The building was completely dark. And that didn't calm Sarah's nerves any.

"It's a trap," Sarah whispered fiercely. "I think we should get out of here. Now."

"No," Bryce said, a bit too loudly. "It's completely safe. I've heard that you're a good agent, Sarah, but you just seem scared. Come on. This place is empty. Look around."

"I agree with Bryce," Carina said. "This place is deserted and you killed our only way to get information."

Sarah doubted herself for a minute. Could she have been wrong?

But in all the cases I've read and even the few drug bust missions I've been on, no one has ever surrendered. At least not that willingly. Never, she thought.

At that moment, guns started firing at the three agents. It was too dark for them to see and there was no place to hide without a chance of being killed. The agents started firing blindly into the dark. It was there only defense. While they were shooting, they quickly made their way to the door. Sarah was the first one out. Bryce and Carina quickly followed.

Unfortunately for the team, outside wasn't any better. They were now face to face with the leader of the drug ring.

* * *

_A/N: Normally, I would have a comment that I thought was clever right here, but it's late and I'm tired. Sorry. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. It's slightly longer than the last. I hope that it was interesting. I shall be updating, relatively, soon. Maybe you can read that chapter too? You will? Great! Now, review please._

_Thanks go to the eleven amazing people that helped work on this. _

_XOXO,_

_SLWF_

_PS. Carrie Underwood received one Grammy nomination tonight! This post is in celebration of that. How does it relate? It doesn't. But since I'm not old enough to drink...  
_


	9. Before She Cheats? Is It Even Cheating?

_A/N: And here we have the relationship revealed! ;)_

_

* * *

_

"Hey, Sarah," Carina said, "sorry to interrupt your story, but you're almost out of gas and we're now headed out of L.A."

"Ugh," Sarah said. "Okay, stop somewhere for gas. Then start driving back towards Chuck's place."

"You're the boss," Carina said, making an illegal u-turn. "There's a gas station right there."

"Okay, now that we have that sorted out," Chuck said, "what happened? Face to face with the bosses?"

"Ha, hold on, big guy," Sarah said. "This is where the story gets interesting and I need you to know that everything that I did was done for the team. For our safety. Understood?"

"Yeah," Chuck said, "I understand. Now, what happened?"

"A lot," Carina said, parking the car by a gas pump. "Money?"

"Uh, here," Sarah said, taking a credit card out of her pocket.

"Ohhh, plastic," Carina said. "Fancy. Mind if I get a drink or something?"

"Yeah, sure, whatever," Sarah said.

"Cool, thanks," Carina said, getting out of the car.

As soon as Carina's door shut, Sarah resumed her story...

* * *

"I see you killed some of my men," the leader said, threateningly. "You're going to have to pay for that."

"Who are you?" Bryce asked, aiming his gun at the speaker.

"Ha, you don't scare me," laughed the leader. "And that little gun of yours would hardly do any damage. But my name is Ramone. My friends here, you may call them Felix and Antonio."

"What do you want from us?" asked Sarah, all business as usual.

"I wanted you to leave my business alone," Ramone said. "But you didn't do that. Now I take you as hostages."

They brought the three agents back in to their facility.

"Put the three of them in different rooms. I can't manage to have any more losses." Ramone ordered his guards.

"Wait!" Sarah said. She had a plan to get them out of there.

"What is it?" Ramone answered, starting to get irritated.

"If it is not an inconvenience I beg you to put me in the same cell as my beloved one" Sarah looked at Bryce. They exchanged glances.

"And why would I do that?" Ramone answered in indignation.

"Because if you have ever loved, you would at least have a little heart to let me die with him." Sarah started to cry.

"Yes. I beg of you. Let me at least die with my love," Bryce said, with a pleading look on his face.

Ramone considered this for a moment, then he said, "What a bunch of CIA crap agents. I thought that the main rule was not to fall in love. Okay, I'll take that as your last wish, but don't ever think that I'm a soft guy. I'm everything, but a soft guy. Go ahead."

Carina did her best to school her features, so that she wouldn't laugh.

Ramone's guards took all of their guns away.

Sarah, Bryce and Carina were now on their cells. Ramone thought he should leave them in surveillance that night, to see if they were really a love couple. If they were, he could use that against them.

Sarah and Bryce were thrown in a cell. Only their hands were tied with ropes. Both knew they were being watched. So, they had to act.

Sarah quickly rushed to Bryce and kissed him. Bryce quickly responded to the kiss. When Bryce started to kiss Sarah's neck, she lowered her head and whispered into his ear, "Bryce, I have a plan." She moaned before continuing, "There are knives tied to my inner thigh."

How does she expect me to get them? My hands are tied too, Bryce thought before realization hit him. Sarah was wearing a skirt.

* * *

Sarah felt Chuck stiffen under her. She knew that the story was bothering him. "Sarah, I need some time alone. Please, just stop for a moment" Chuck said almost in a whisper. Even a stupid person could realize the pure sadness in his voice.

"No, Chuck. Wait." Sarah started to say.

"No you wait Sarah. I need this." Chuck said more harshly than he expected. "I'm sorry, this is just a lot to take in." Chuck started to slowly move from under Sarah.

Chuck walked away and went to breathe some fresh air. Sarah rubbed her eyes in frustration and thought to herself, 'I knew this was going to be hard.' By that time Carina was back in to the car. "So, I guess you got to the good part. Just saying, If I were you, I wouldn't let him be alone at this hard moment." Carina had her drink with her.

Chuck was already far from the Porsche, he was thinking to himself. Getting his mind in place. Sarah had to run a little to get there. She came from behind and hugged him tightly. The hug could tell more than what words would ever had.

"Chuck, I love you so much. Please, you have to understand." Sarah said almost in tears.

Chuck took a deep breath, "I love you too Sarah, we both know that, but some things are just hard for me to handle..."

Sarah looked him straight in the eyes, "Come on, Chuck, leave the past behind, forget that, you know every time Carina's around, things get pretty messy" she then took 3 steps backwards and stared at the moon "You know that me and Bryce had a past, there's nothing I can do about it... The only thing I can do is tell you what happened. You still want to know what happened at the drug warehouse?"

"Of course I do," Chuck said, looking back at her. "It's just hard to listen about you and Bryce."

"I know, sweetie," Sarah said. "It was hard to watch you and Jill."

"I'm sorry about that, Sarah," Chuck apologized again. "I just couldn't help it."

"I can kind of understand that," Sarah said. "And I hope you will understand that what happened between Bryce and I that mission was strictly for the mission."

"Okay, I'll try," Chuck said. "But, please answer me this, how did you and Bryce end up in a relationship?"

"It's part of the story," Sarah replied.

"Oh," Chuck said, glancing toward the car. "I guess I'll just have to listen to the rest of it then. Come on, Carina's waiting."

Sarah smiled, taking his hand, "Thank you."

"For what?" asked Chuck as the two made their way back to the car. "For being you and caring that I was with someone else. Even if you already knew."

"You're welcome," Chuck said, "but it's just Bartowski nature."

"Hmm, well, I like it," Sarah said.

The two quietly jogged the rest of the way to the car. They found Carina where Sarah had left her. In the front seat. Messing with the radio. Chuck and Sarah heard the music blaring. And they weren't even in the car yet.

When they opened the door and climbed into the passenger seat, the music became clearer and they could understand the lyrics. Carina's singing became clearer too.

"I dug my key into the side of his pretty little souped up four-wheel-drive," Carina sung before she noticed the two people sitting in the passenger seat quietly laughing at her. "It's not funny."

"No, no," Sarah shook her head, laughing, "it's not funny. That song is completely serious. And I could totally see you doing that. You know, beating up a guy's truck and then carving your name in the seats."

"Whatever," Carina rolled her eyes, driving away from the gas station. "Just tell your story."

"Fine," Sarah said. "I will."

* * *

_A/N: And there you have it! Thanks for reading. I would also like to thank the eleven authors that helped put this story together. :)_

_Merry Christmas! Happy Hanukkah! Happy Holidays! :)_

_LOVE,_

_SLWF_


	10. Break Out

Bryce kissed his way up Sarah's neck to her ear.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" he asked.

"Hmm-mmm," Sarah moaned. "Just make it quick."

"Will do," Bryce said, pushing Sarah towards the wall for balance and making his way down to the opening of her skirt. He kissed. Sarah moaned. Several minutes passed before Bryce was able to get one of the knives from the sheath.

"Got it," he exclaimed, appearing out from under her skirt with a knife in his mouth.

"What took you so long?" asked Sarah, annoyed.

"Hey!" Bryce protested. "I did my best. It's not easy, you know."

"Whatever," Sarah mumbled. "Just hurry and cut yourself out of those ropes."

"Yeah, yeah," Bryce said. "You know, you're bossy."

"Don't you like that?" asked Sarah sarcastically.

* * *

Meanwhile an alarm went off. The guard who was watching Bryce and Sarah had set it off almost as soon as the knife had appeared. Lucky for him, the noise of the alarm could not be heard from inside the cell.

Just five minutes had passed before Ramone had responded to the alarm and made his way to the security office.

"What is it?" he asked as he walked into the room.

"The male agent has a knife," replied the guard, respectfully keeping his eyes off of the drug ring leader. "The female had them hidden."

"I see," the leader said, turning his attention to the monitor connected to Bryce and Sarah's cell.

"Should we separate them, sir?" asked the nervous guard.

"No," Ramone shook his head. "Let them stay together and keep the knife. But I want you to tell me if anything else interesting happens, got it?"

"Yes, sir," the guard replied.

"Good," the leader left the room.

* * *

Bryce was finally able to escape his bonds. Much too slowly for Sarah's liking though.

"Gah!" she exclaimed. "I'm trapped with a sloth of an agent."

"Hey, I got the ropes off, right?" Bryce asked. He didn't like it when people insulted him. "It's hard to do with just a knife and your mouth."

"Yeah, if you're just starting training," Sarah said. "Just make it look like we're doing something kinky and get me out of these ropes."

"I can do kinky," Bryce said with a wink.

Why am I not surprised, Sarah asked herself before actually speaking to Bryce.

"Just get the bonds cut, we don't have much time. The guards will be in here soon; they will have seen the knife. And try not to get distracted."

"Distracted? Why would I get distracted?" asked Bryce, before noticing that Sarah's skirt seemed to be very short. "Oh."

Okay, Bryce, you can do this, just focus on the mission, focus on the mission, focus on the...

"Bryce! What did I tell you?" said Sarah angrily.

"Right. Sorry," responded Bryce with a sheepish look before tearing his eyes away from some of the more interesting parts of Sarah's anatomy. He got to work with the knife, with his back to the camera in order to cover what he was doing.

* * *

"Dear God, what are these two doing?" said the guard to nobody in particular.

* * *

Once Sarah was free of her bonds too, another thought struck her. They may now have their hands free, but they were still stuck in a locked room.

"Bryce, do you have a lock pick? They took mine when they searched us."

"Yeah, I do, but you're not going to like where it's hidden," answered Bryce.

"Why, where is it?"

"The waistband of my trousers. At the front."

"Oh, hell no!"

"Sorry," Bryce shrugged. "It's just easier to keep it there. I can't wear it in my hair like a girl."

"But in your pants?" Sarah asked, disgusted.

"Aw, come on," Bryce said with a sweet smile, "it's not like it's so bad in there."

"Good," said Sarah, "then I'm sure you won't mind getting it out of there for me?"

"Uh," Bryce said, "I think it's better if you did."

"Why?" asked Sarah.

"Cameras," Bryce mouthed.

"Turn this way," Sarah whispered. "It's a blind spot. They won't be able to see you."

"I still think it'd be better if you did it," Bryce said, following her directions.

"You just want me to stick my hand down your pants," Sarah said. "And that's not happening. Now I need the pick."

"Here," Bryce said, retrieving the item from inside his pants.

"Thank you," Sarah said, rolling her eyes.

"So now what are we going to do?" Bryce asked. "You can't just pick the lock. They're watching us."

"I've got a plan," Sarah said. "Just follow my lead."

She started kissing him. It didn't take long for Bryce to start kissing her back. The two agents made their way to the door of the cell. Sarah pushed Bryce up against the door. To an onlooker it would seem that they were in the midst of a heavy make out session, but to a seasoned spy it would look like what it was. Sarah was picking the lock.

"Done," she said happily, breaking the kiss.

"That was fast," Bryce said.

"I'm not slow like you," Sarah said. "Now let's get out of here."

"No, not yet," Bryce responded.

"Why not?" asked Sarah.

"We need a plan," he replied. "One well thought out. We don't know how many people we're up against and we have no idea where Carina is or if she's even alive."

"There may be help for you yet, Agent Larkin," Sarah smiled. "What do you suggest?"

"Well..."

* * *

Meanwhile Carina was walking back and forth in her cell. There were cameras but she knew that she wasn't being watched. And she wondered why.

Where are Bryce and Sarah? she thought. Why am I not being watched? Something is going on.

She walked to the cell door. There she found a bored looking guard standing watch.

Oh, well, that explains the cameras not being on, she told herself. There's a guard out there.

She got an idea then. If she could just lure the guard to her and get him to open the door, she would be free to find her partners. Or at least escape.

Carina smiled. This was going to be fun.

Carina licked her lips before signaling the young guard to come over to her cell. Training was the only thing that stopped the guard from rushing as fast as he could to Carina's door.

This is gonna be even easier than I thought, Carina said to herself. Wish they'd at least give me some sort of a challenge.

"Hey," Carina said, putting on her most helpless voice, "do you think that maybe you can come in here with me? It's so lonely."

The guard practically started drooling and it was with great control that Carina was able to fight off a smirk.

"I don't think that would be a good idea," the young male responded, although it was clear he thought it was a very good idea. "It's against the rules."

"But there aren't any cameras," Carina pouted. "No one can see us. It'll be fun. Promise. Just come in."

"I can't," the guard said, regretting the truth behind his words. "I wish I could."

"Then why don't you?" asked Carina. "Like I said, no one can see us. It'll be just me and you. They already took my weapons from me. And you have a very big...gun. Come on, you can take me. You're a big strong guy, right?"

"Yes," the guard replied, trying to make his voice sound deeper than it was.

"Come in," Carina said again. "Please, it's so lonely."

"Okay, but don't tell anyone," the guard looked around before unlocking the door and stepping into the room.

"Thanks," Carina said. "Can I ask you for one more favor?"

"Uh, yeah," the man answered. "What is it?"

"Can you please untie my wrists?" she asked.

"I don't think that is such a good idea..."

"It would be sooo much better if I had the use of my hands," Carina smiled seductively.

"Okay," the guard relented.

He retrieved his knife from the sheath on his ankle and cut Carina's bonds. As soon as she was free, Carina kicked the guard in the groin and took the knife from him. Without blinking an eye, she stabbed the guard in the neck, severing his jugular, killing him instantly.

"See?" Carina said, wiping the knife off on the dead guard's clothes before sticking it at her back. "Much better with my hands free."

She stole the guard's key's and escaped her cell. Once out, she started to search for Bryce and Sarah.

Where could they be? she asked herself as she made her way down the hall. Little did she know that she was headed straight for Ramone's office...

* * *

_A/N: Sorry for the excessive line breaks. Thanks for reading! Please review! There are eleven writers who need to see some praise/constructive criticism! :)_


	11. Moving Out

_A/N: And I'm updating again since **someone** in charge of the Who Are You challenge didn't post yet! Lol! This chapter is dedicated to Fire From Above. It's finally getting back to the plot, buddy! ;)_

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* * *

_

"Where's Carina?" Sarah whispered to Bryce.

Bryce pulled up the tracking device on his Palm Treo (because, you know, there were no iPhones at the time), and from his previous knowledge of the building schematics, he immediately was able to figure Carina's current course as that which would lead to...

"She's headed straight for Ramone's office!" Bryce gasped.

"Dammit, we have to go get her!" Sarah said as she began running in the other direction.

Bryce grabbed her arm firmly and pulled her back. He knew this was the knock on Sarah Walker. She was a top flight agent, maybe the most skilled in all of the CIA. But her loyalty, which could serve as a great strength, was more often than not her greatest weakness. Sarah would never dessert a comrade in battle; she'd never turn her back on a friend. She would fight to the death to make sure everyone came back alive, even at the risk of the operation or her own life. He couldn't let her do that this time. Sometimes even a big bad CIA agent like Sarah needed to be protected, if only from herself, and that's what Bryce intended to do.

"No!" he demanded. "We can't do that, Sarah. We'll be walking right back into their hands!"

"I don't care!" she responded harshly. "I will _never_ leave a teammate to die when I could've helped."

Before the male agent could protest further, Sarah had pushed him away and begun a full sprint in the direction of the DEA agent that was heading straight for the teeth of the bad guys' trap.

"Crap. Sarah," he muttered, as he began his pursuit of his fleeing partner.

Sarah slid around the final corner and saw Carina just as the redhead was about to enter Ramone's office. She increased her sprint to an even faster pace in hopes that she'd reach her friend in time.

"Carina!" she shouted, grabbing the other woman's arm.

"Sarah?" Carina asked, surprised to see the other woman. "I was looking all over for you guys! Where's Bryce?"

No sooner had she asked the question, than Bryce appeared wheeling around the corner. Reunited, the three agents thought that luck was finally on their side. They'd appeared to have avoided further enemy contact, if just barely, and they'd be able to escape and regroup. All was not lost just yet.

These positive thoughts were interrupted, however, by the sound of several guns being drawn from somewhere in the shadows of the opened office.

"So nice of you to join us, agents," said a gruff voice from the offices interior.

Bryce didn't hesitate to act. He shoved the two women away, giving them a command to run, and he charged head first into the room to try to draw the attention of the baddies. Gunfire immediately began to pour into the lone male agent, and his body was wracked with repeated blasts from their weapons.

Although they should have followed his orders and run, neither Carina nor Sarah could force themselves to abandon Bryce. Luckily, with all of the attention of the men focused on their partner, the gang members made pretty easy targets for Sarah and Carina. They took down all seven of the men inside the office rather quickly.

Only then did they take note of Bryce's stilled form lying prone on the floor. Sarah began to panic, and rushed to the side of her new partner.

"Bryce! Bryce, talk to me!" she yelled, but he didn't respond. He didn't appear to be breathing, and she knew what she needed to do in this situation. Bryce's odds weren't good to make; in fact he might already be dead. She and Carina needed to get out as quickly as possible. For some reason, however, the blonde just couldn't tear herself away.

That was what Carina was for. "Sarah, we can't take him out of here! We'll never get out ourselves! Come on!"

Sarah nodded numbly, and slowly began to take Carina's lead as the two women began to leave the compound. Minutes later, they'd finally found their way to an exit, and they seemed to be in the clear. Appearances once again, however, proved to be deceiving.

Two men busted in through the exit, and two more approached from the flanks of the DEA and CIA agents. They were surrounded, outnumbered, and thoroughly defeated. They dropped their weapons and dropped to their knees in surrender.

The henchmen all shared a devious smile of contentment as they moved to take the women back into custody. No sooner had they started to approach, however, than four quick shots were fired. The gang members dropped to the floor, dead before they hit the ground. Sarah and Carina wheeled around to see their rescuer.

"Never count out Bryce Larkin," he said with a confident grin.

"Bryce! You're alive?" Sarah said shocked.

"Well, if I'm not, then those guys really got a raw deal. It would suck to get offed by a dead guy."

The two women looked at him through a look of feigned reproach, but neither of them could deny just how incredibly sexy his moment of heroism really was. And it was about to get even better.

"Okay, I know this didn't go exactly as planned, but these morons thought it would be a good idea to keep electronic files of all of their transactions and business associations."

"And?" Carina asked.

"And, I managed to lift the hard drive that contained all of those files," he said with another smile. "Let's get out of here."

* * *

"So that's it?" Chuck asked incredulously . "Bryce just hacked into their system and you guys left?"

"Why?" Sarah asked, smiling. "Disappointed?"

"Well," said Chuck, "yeah. I thought there would be more, you know. Explosions and gun fights and chases. Even more you and Bryce. Didn't Carina say that she saw you two together?"

Carina smirked, "That I did, Chuckles."

Chuck creased his brow, "Then...?"

"The story isn't over yet, Chuck," Sarah sighed. "Not by a long-shot."

"Nope," Carina agreed, parking the car. "Lots more to the story, but you're home now. Guess Sarah will just have to finish the story later. You two need to go tell your sister that you will be moving out."

"Right," Chuck nodded his head, "but can't you just finish the story? Please?"

"Nuh-uh," Sarah shook her head with a smile, "we need to go in there now. Mission first, 'kay? But, tell you what, I'll give you a little spoiler."

"What?" Chuck asked. "What is it?"

Carina rolled her eyes at the two lovebirds, "Sarah gets tied up again."

"You guys get captured?" Chuck asked, confused.

"Maybe," Sarah said, glaring at Carina. "You'll just have to wait and see. Now, come on, we have to go in."

"Okay," Chuck said, disappointed. He wanted to hear the rest of the story. "Is Carina going to come in?"

"No, Chuck," Carina said, pointing out of the window, "I'm gonna take my car and go back to the hotel."

"Uh, okay," Chuck smiled as he and Sarah got out of the car.

"Thanks," Carina replied, also getting out of the car.

Chuck and Sarah walked towards the apartment while Carina made her way to her car at the other side of the parking lot.


End file.
